Rail-joint



M. G. STACKHOUSE.

RAIL JOINT.

APPLICATION FILED 1 AN.4. 192x.

Patented Aug. 23, 1921.

PATENT. OFFICE.

MILROY o. s'rAcKHoUsn, or'rULsA, oKLAHoMA;

- .RAIL-JOINT.

Specification of Letters Patent. Patented Aug. 23, 1921- Application filed January 4, 1921. Serial No. 434,892.

T 0 all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, MILnoY Gr. STACK- rrocsn, a citizen of the United States of America, residing at Tulsa, in the county of Tulsa and State of Oklahoma, have invented new and useful Improvements in Rail- Joints, of which the following is a specification.

The object of the invention is to provide a simple and efiicient form of rail joint whereby the connection between adjacent ends of adjoining railway and like rails may be effected without depending upon the cooperative action of fish'plates, chairs and like auxiliary elements commonly employed in this connection; and moreover to provide a joint facilitating the serial or consecutive connection of rail sections or members under conditions allowing ample latitude for longitudinal expansion and contraction due to variations in temperature; and furthermore to provide a joint wherein the complemental members can be produced by the ordinary rolling methods now practised in the for mation of rails with a minimum of. supplemental or special treatment in providing the interlocking features by which the connected rail ends are held against relative transverse displacement either vertically or laterally; and with these objects in view the invention consists in a construction and combination of parts of which a preferred embodiment is shown in the accompanying drawing, wherein:

Figure l is a view of a section of rail embodying a joint constructed in accordance with the invention and showing in that con= nection two interlocked rail ends.

Fig. 2 is a transverse sectional view of the joint.

Figs. 3 and 4. are respectively side and plan views of the joint with the elements thereof separated slightly to expose the looking pins.

Fig. 5 is a detail view of that rail end which carries the base.

The rail ends 10 and 11 which may correspond in construction with the opposite ends of a single rail section or member, are split or divided longitudinally or halved on a vertical plane through the head 12 and web 13 for a longitudinal distance which may very according to the prospective use of the track, to provide tongues 14 and 15 at the bases or inner ends of which are arranged abrupt shoulders 16 and 17 for abutting relation respectively with the extremities of the tongues of the related railends, said shoulders carrying longitudinally directed locking pins 18 and 19 for engagement with sockets 20 in the head portions of the ends of the tongues. These locking pins are engageable with the sockets designed for their reception by a relative longitudinal movement of the tongues and ends of the rail ends carrying the same and are movable in said sockets to compensate for longitudinal expansion and contraction of the rail members.

One of the rail ends, designated in the drawings as 11 carries the base 21 common to both of the overlapping tongue elements of the connected rail ends, the tongue 14 of the other rail end being baseless, and said base;

or foot 21 is provided in its upper surface and in parallelism with and close to the plane of the inner surface of its tongue 15 with a longitudinal roove or channel 22 for the reception of the lower edge of the web'portion of the tongue 14, to afford 'a further interlocking feature serving to provide against transverse relative displacement of the rail ends while permitting relative longitudinal movement sufficient to compensate for expansion and contraction.

It will be obvious. that the rail ends may be fitted together by a relative longitudinal movement and may be secured against 1ongitudinal displacement to an extent sufficient to effect disengagement of the locking pins from their complemental sockets by transverse bolts or the equivalents thereof.

Having described the invention what is claimed as new and useful is 1. A rail joint having rail ends longitudinally halved on a vertical plane through the head and web portions thereof to form tongues at the inner ends of which are. provided abrupt shoulders for abutting relation respectively with the extremity of the tongue of the other rail end, one of said tongues carrying a base common to both tongues and having a longitudinal groove for the reception of the lower edge of the other tongue, an interlocking connection being provided between said shoulders and the abutting extremities of the tongues.

2. A rail joint having rail ends longitudinally halved on a vertical plane through the head and Web portions thereof to form tongues at the inner ends of Which are pro- Yided abrupt shoulders for abutting relation respectively with the extremity of the tongue of the other rail end, one of said tongues carrying a base common to both tongues and having a longitudinal groove for the reception of the lower edge or the other tongue, an

interlocking connection being provided between said shoulders and the abutting extremities of the tongues and consisting of a longitudinally directed locking pin on one for reception by a socket in the other.

i In testimony whereof I affix my signature.

MILROY G. STAOKHOUSE. 

